Maya made her donation in the names of Kate Yoder (the mother of her close friend Lydia) and Kathy Kobos (our next-door neighbor).

The 16 hour birthday event has come to a close. Maya and her friends seemed to have a fantastic time, the house remained in tact, and the parents were left standing, if a little sleep deprived.

Maya’s birthday slumber party spills over into day two, according to plan. Maya made a poster-sized schedule of events and party rules, which we followed to the letter.

Some of my favorite shots from the evening.

Nicolai was extremely helpful throughout the evening and is seen here coordinating the Capture the Flag game after dinner. When darkness ended the competition the girls returned to the house, opened presents and settled into the basement for their movie and slumber party. Jeanine stayed up to supervise and was to be found asleep on the living room couch the next morning.

A macaroni and cheese and hotdog dinner was served, followed by ice cream and cupcakes decorated as dogs (see an earlier posting for a close up). Vegetables and fruits were also served but seemed to provide little more than decoration for the table, given the level of interest in the less healthy parts of the meal.

Next was a massive indoor/outdoor scavenger hunt which culminated with a race to the bird house in our field where the rubber chicken prize was roosting.

During the first activity my workshop was requisitioned for use as an art studio in which the girls decorated pillow cases.

Even before officially starting, the first party event appeared to be horse riding of the birthday girl.

As of today, our little girl requires two digits to write down her age. We are celebrating this auspicious milestone with a sleep-over birthday that has entirely dispossessed me of any notion that girls are less rambunctious than boys. What boys exhibit in shear physicality the girls more than make up for with cacophony of sound and kinetic energy.

Despite a very long day in the office, I took time this evening, at his request, to cut Nicolai’s hair. After the first pass he accused me of intentional barbarism (pun intended) declaring that I had butchered his hair. I subsequently did a little more work addressing his bowl cut concerns and am actually very pleased with the outcome. This photo (taken the day after) as he raced for the school bus is being offered in defense of my hair cutting skills. Click on it for a closer inspection.

 
Early this morning Jeanine and I attended school with Maya where she and members of her class presented their Magazine Projects. Each child published a spiral bound color magazine on the subject of their choice. Little surprise that Maya chose a magazine entitled Dog-On-It featuring nothing but canines. The magazines contained feature articles, advertisements, poetry, fun pages, subscription cards, letters from readers, photo essays and just about everything else you would expect to find in a real magazine, all created by the student. With all the parents present each child gave a brief barker style presentation extolling the virtues of their publication. I was sold but Maya refused to sell me her only copy for the newstand price of $3.89.

 
After Nico’s doctors appointment Jeanine dropped me off at the office and drove my car back to Concord. After work I made the 45 minute walk from Sonos to Porter Square (with a very pleasant traversal of the Harvard campus) where I boarded the commuter rail to Concord. Taking the T would have saved time but it was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed the exercise.

Nicolai, after months of waiting, was able to see a specialist this morning to look at his knee. As you might imagine, hopping on one leg tends to put excess strain on one’s knee and Nico is having some pain in his. Playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, and wrestling probably don’t help the situation either. After reviewing new x-rays the doctor found nothing inconsistent with normal growth plate development, suggested some PT and agreed with the parents that basketball was probably something that needs to be done in much greater moderation since it puts the most strain on the knee.

Jeanine’s garden is now filled with vegetables which find their way to our dinner table every night. This is one of three beds and I am informed that I will need to build more next season. So far the deer have not been eating our crops and for this we credit Nala who patrols the yard constantly.

Adding photos of the dedication of Hakim’s tree taken by Ruth Glidden.

This is a Swamp Milkweed beetle with its heart set on a meal in our garden. For the time being I have taken a live and let live attitude but if this guy invites any of his friends over I may change my tune. I played in my final soccer match of the season this morning and we lost a well played game to the first place team in the division. I was finally able to shoot again with my right foot, my knee having now fully recovered. After the game the team gathered at the CCHS field where we remembered Hakim, the son of one of my teammates. We all chipped in to have a beautiful mature oak tree planted at the entrance to the soccer complex in his memory. It was an emotional celebration and I hope to obtain a photo of the event for future inclusion here.

Sadly, my brother’s family leaves to return to Minnesota today. It has been one of the best visits ever. After days of tournament style croquet with matches lasting well past darkness and finished under the illumination of car headlights the score between teams is dead even with all players having reached rover status. Rory and Nicolai in particular have made some truly unbelieveable long distance snipes to keep their respective teams in the hunt. As time runs out we convince the boys to settle for a tie and to resume the competition on their next visit. We have all enjoyed Sophia and Rose but none more than Maya who was both big sister and mother to them for much of the week. We all missed Mark and hope to see him on our next gathering.

Maya’s soccer team wrapped up their season this morning (except for one makeup game). They needed a win or tie to finish first in their division. The match was very exciting and the girls fought back from a 1-0 deficit to tie the match. Maya made a long run from her defensive position and served a perfect cross for the goal. Despite a rather average start to the season, Maya showed some real improvment by the end and despite her small stature has learned to use her foot skills and speed to advantage.

After dinner, we made an ice cream run. The four amigos made short work of the massive portions that are the hallmark of Kimball Farm.

As we arrived at home, the girls were decorating cupcakes, and in less than 10 seconds, everyone was working on their own canine masterpiece.

This morning I dropped Nicolai, Mario, and Rory off at the Science Museum on my way into work. Here Nicolai attempts to bring the ends of two L shaped sticks together while looking through a prism which swaps right eye view for left. Quite an amusing challenge for one and all. I picked them up after work and each had to cite 15 science facts they had learned during the day before I would take them home. Fortuantely they were up to the challenge.

My nieces are being as cute as can be. I miss having toddlers underfoot and am soaking up as much of them as I can.

My parents, both in their eighties now, remain passionate about dancing and each other. They have been since the evening they first met. This photo was taken a few weeks ago in what used to be my bedroom which they have since converted into a dance studio and media library. Are these the same people that try to tell me I am getting too old for soccer?

This evening, we celebrated near birthdays (Maya, Mario, Rory, Nico)on the sun porch. Joining us for the last few days have been my parents, who drove in from Schenectady, where they were recently featured on the front page of the local paper for fifty years of dancing together (and still going strong). The story and link to a video can be found here.

My sister-in-law Marie heads off to UMass to review clinical trials of the stent her startup medical company is seeking to bring to market. Little doubt where her children acquired their good looks and brains. My brother Mark may have had something to do with it as well.

While Kyle and Nico were in school and I was at work, everyone else went to the beach where Maya and Mario found this decapitated head, which bore a strong resemblance to Rory.

Maya is delighted to take on the role of big sister/mother in training. She has been extraordinarily helpful and seems to be enjoying every moment with her younger cousins.

Both girls are drawn to Nala who has been very accommodating of their attention.

This is older sister, Sophia. She has the most beautiful eyes and a bright personality to match. We engage in long conversations on topics of great importance such as the correct color of a banana. The more softly I speak to her the more exaggerated her facial expressions become. A future in acting will be one of many options she has in front of her.

Yesterday I focused on the boys. Today we turn our attention to the girls. This is the youngest cousin, Rose. She is an adorable little force to be reckoned with. Her parents describe her as willful. Her teachers describe her as smart but lacking a single ladylike bone in her body. She has decided I am similar enough to my brother in appearance and sound to warrant calling me papa. I am obliged to follow all orders I receive from her.